Thirst Quencher – Busyness Isn’t Necessarily Faithfulness

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Ever feel like Adda in A Bug’s Life, frenetically running around, very busy, but unsatisfied? As if you’re chasing peace, and your joy tank is empty? Busy about the right things the wrong way or about the wrong things? Maybe you’ve got PTA and that protein diet down, pals for the book club and plastic to spend it on; maybe you’ve got the platinum biz card and are traveling the world with the so-called “good life” but feeling more stressed than ever, and it’s not so good after all?…

Busyness isn’t necessarily faithfulness, is it? While it’s true that when we’re faithful, we are busy, the reverse, the converse, isn’t necessarily the case.

The fruit of a life lived in the will of God is peace. Sometimes, that means we need the kick off the covers of control, over-self-reliance in favor of the comfort that comes in relying on God and living out His will instead of following our own agenda and hoping He’ll back it up… The result of the latter is peace and joy and the result of the former is stress and emptiness.

I’ve come to suspect that many of us, in or out of a relationship with God, are suffering from spiritual claustrophobia. It’s easy to understand. Control became a buzz word of the 90’s.. Remember some of the titles in the self-help sections of bookstores or magazines, How to Get Control of Your Children, How to Get What You Want from Your Spouse, your biz.. etc? There was a cultural appetite of control that choked God out, leaving many to gasp for spiritual and emotional air.

Certainly we want to engage in much of our own free will but to dictate every moment in advance, to plan out and micro-manage our lives without holding out plans tentatively and sacrificial listening to God who knows best, is defeating. Trying to to sing every verse of our song at one time, or on our own effort, trying to spin our wheels for the sake of being busy–without first asking God His will, puts shadows around God and halos around our own narrow purposes and lans.. shift the locus of control from God to ourselves, as Isaiah addressed prophetically (Holy Bible: Isaiah 50:11).

“Worshipping the wok of our own hands” rather than using our hands to do His. It is to” walk in the light of the sparks we have kindled” and in the light of our own fire than by the fire of God’s light and Spirit. Again, it’s easy to arrive at this uncomfortable, stressful poverty port in a culture that tells us we can alone drive the ship, control our children and spouses, follow a recipe and have every outcome we immediately think we desire.

Sound like Tower-of-Babel thinking. I can engineer it all myself, make it happen, and get to heaven that way–nirvana, a perfect existence… on my own sheer effort.

Clearly the adversary would have us slavishly tied to time itself or to a system of using it to distract us from the reason it is there, that of responding to needs of others. He would have us be as his, “running to and fro in the earth” going through motions but missing mark coursing through our lives like the charlatan sap of the leafy fig tree showing long lists of accomplishments with few fruits of his work love and ordinances..

And perhaps this can be our reminder of the limitations of earthly systems. While they assist us in our God-inspired labors, they should not be ends in themselves… They can be effective through streets to His will, but they impede us when they are cul de sacs of self-will and self-centered accomplishment:.

Our little systems have their day

they have their day and cease to be

they are but broken lights of thee

and thou, O Lord, art more than they.

Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, 1849.

So let’s us do this instead: Let’s offer our available hearts and souls as an offering in prayer to God and then seek His will, matching our talents with His need in the plan to bring goodness and healing to the world, and then respond so His plan is being executed through us rather than ours begging a bit of His help. Let’s get aboard our vessels each day to sail. “comment ourselves unto our God’ having sought Him early, and then move forward with Him though our day. We can start simply. We can ask for help to understand that His will is cameo, that yielding to it provides the most desired results–for us, and for Him.

If you’d like to know how you can come to know God, or know God’s will for your life, or how to really receive the gift of the Holy Ghost or find peace through Jesus Christ, please visit ibelievepodcast.com, website with additional links and resources, or join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, or YouTube.

About karenroseLiving out a great season of my life, thanks to Jesus Christ, and two wonderful daughters, a great life's work. Loving this opportunity to share faith online...
I'm a single Mom, convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, second-gen Italian, from the East coast originally. Love the fine arts, dance, frozen yogurt, temples, scriptures, writing, jazz, helping others reach their potential, king salmon, ....and not in that order. God is good. I feel it deeply when people have a misconception of Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ, His Son, that lessens or cheapens Them and blinds one's ability to feel His presence or to trust in an ultimately good eternal end to life's circumstances.

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